Page 62 - Teaching English at Primary Level: From Theory into the Classroom

Content and Language Integrated Learning

Content Communication
Exploring the stages of a plant’s Vocabulary related to plants
life, including seed, sprout, (e.g., seed, root, stem, leaves).
mature plant, and flower. Basic sentence structures (It
Learning about the basic needs needs/grows/has ...).
of plants, such as sunlight, Scaffolding language by using
water, and soil. visuals, flashcards,
and gestures.
Topic: Plant
Life-Cycle
Cognition Culture
Predicting the stages Comparing the growth of plants
of a plant’s life. in different environments.
Putting the stages in the Discussing different gardening
right order. practices. Figure 3.3
Observing the growth of a plant Applying the Four CLIL
and documenting Elements in the 1st Grade
the changes. (based on the framework
of Coyle et al., 2010)

room, including their linguistic and cultural backgrounds. By incorporating
cultural elements into CLIL lessons, teachers develop pupils’ ability to com-
municate effectively in a culturally diverse world and deepen their under-
standing of both language and content in a meaningful context. Griva and
Chostelidou (2017) argue that CLIL students show a higher level of cultural
awareness, and consequently, openness to other cultures, and a higher ca-
pacity for critical thinking.
Figure3.3presentsan exampleofhowtheframework ofthe4Csdeveloped
by Coyle et al. (2010) may be applied to a lesson with YLs.

Teachers and YLs in CLIL Classes
Teaching in CLIL classes places high demands and expectations on teachers.
They need to master the subject curriculum area and be proficient in an FL,
includingtherelevant subject terminology.Accordingto theEurydiceReport
(2017, p. 14), in ‘15 education systems, teachers are required to have additional
qualifications to teach in CLIL type of provision. In most cases, a particular
language proficiency level is required – usually B2 or C1 levels of the CEFR
(2011).’ In addition, teaching a curriculum subject through an FL requires the
teacher to have special teaching competences. This may mean that teach-
ers need to step out of their teaching comfort zones, characteristic of FLT
contexts, and try new approaches based on the integrated curriculum (Skela

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